About three years ago I left a good job paying $23/hr to help my gentleman friend open a restaurant. He could find no one he trusted to manage it, so I stupidly volunteered.
Given the new business I agreed to a small token of a salary with the promise that I would be 'rewarded' either with a more appropriate amount including back pay when the restaurant 'took off' or else if he got a great offer to sell he would give me a lump sum as thanks for my loyalty.
After working 12 hour days, seven days a week, he got 'the offer' which fell through after a few months. During that time the impending 'sale' ruined the business and we could just never get it back and he closed it.
Closing it and the debt of the monkey on his back has apparently created a memory loss for him whereby I now am entitled to nothing.
Do I have any recourse with only a trust agreement? I do have the payroll hourly reports from the restaurant computer, which show my clock in/out totals for the 2.5 years. They actually are 'light' since I did not always clock in, but they show a 10,500 hour commitment to him for which my tax records will show I was compensated less than $3/hr. Bear in mind I was the manager. At minimum wage I should have received $6.50, at manager salary I should have received about $15 for all that I did.
So, is there a hope for re-couping what would amount to a considerable sum of money or am I just wiser with an expensive lesson learned?
Thanks and by the way.....Anyone want to hire a very trusting person?
Given the new business I agreed to a small token of a salary with the promise that I would be 'rewarded' either with a more appropriate amount including back pay when the restaurant 'took off' or else if he got a great offer to sell he would give me a lump sum as thanks for my loyalty.
After working 12 hour days, seven days a week, he got 'the offer' which fell through after a few months. During that time the impending 'sale' ruined the business and we could just never get it back and he closed it.
Closing it and the debt of the monkey on his back has apparently created a memory loss for him whereby I now am entitled to nothing.
Do I have any recourse with only a trust agreement? I do have the payroll hourly reports from the restaurant computer, which show my clock in/out totals for the 2.5 years. They actually are 'light' since I did not always clock in, but they show a 10,500 hour commitment to him for which my tax records will show I was compensated less than $3/hr. Bear in mind I was the manager. At minimum wage I should have received $6.50, at manager salary I should have received about $15 for all that I did.
So, is there a hope for re-couping what would amount to a considerable sum of money or am I just wiser with an expensive lesson learned?
Thanks and by the way.....Anyone want to hire a very trusting person?
